Obi Kaufmann at Sawyer Land + Sea Supply

Join Obi Kaufmann, author-illustrator of the #1 best-selling California Field Atlas, for a talk about his newest book, The State of Water. Obi Kaufmann’s book tour continues as he rambles through Santa Cruz, and rings in the first night of summer in Santa Cruz. The reception will begin at 6:00 p.m., followed by a quick presentation by Obi and followed by a signing of both his new book and the continued best seller The California Field Atlas. In The State of Water, a work filled with luscious illustrations, Obi shows how California can usher in a new era of responsible water conservation, and—perhaps most importantly—how we may do so together. If you aren’t yet acquainted with Obi’s work, he is a naturalist, a painter, and a writer who has spent his life walking California’s rugged backcountry and celebrating its majesty and biodiversity in his prolific poetry and stunning watercolors. He is now working on a series of six books that will each cover a different aspect of California’s unique natural world.

Growing up in the East Bay as the son of an astrophysicist and a psychologist, Obi Kaufmann spent most of high school practicing calculus and breaking away on weekends to scramble around Mount Diablo and map its creeks, oak forests, and sage mazes. Into adulthood, he would regularly journey into the mountains, spending more summer nights without a roof than with one. For Kaufmann, the epic narrative of the California backcountry holds enough art, science, mythology, and language for a hundred field atlases to come. When he is not backpacking, you can find the painter-poet at his desk in Oakland, posting @coyotethunder #trailpaintings on social media. His website is www.coyoteandthunder.com.